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Thanks Joni..looks liked it won’t be too long before our boy is commanding fees close to that of Dubawi and with Elarqam and Herculean on the Classics trail next season who knows what will hapoen.
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Key question though on Frankel V Nathaniel from a value perspective: are you breeding to race or breeding to sell?
Well what a year it has been for us Frankel fans! A proper roller-coaster I would say. Now that it is pretty much over, I thought it might be fun to put down my thoughts. My full-term report, if you like! So I want to talk about what happened and what I think the future holds now.
Writing this at the beginning of November I can do so with a smile on my face. Frankel has finished the season as leading second-crop sire and stands in the top 5 stallions in the world even though he only has 2 crops running. He has sired two Group 1 winners and is the sire of the highest-rated horse in Europe; a horse who, had he been sired by Galileo, would be that great sires joint 3rd highest-ever rated horse. Frankel has produced 13 Group winners from his first crop, a feat only matched by Galileo in the Northern Hemisphere, and 25% of his progeny have achieved black type. His latest yearlings have been a massive hit in the sales and he has joined Dubawi and Galileo as one of the truly elite stallions in Europe. Not bad for a second season really. But it wasn’t all plain sailing was it?!
The season started off well enough. Soul Stirring won Frankel his first classic as a stallion in winning the Japan Oaks. Eminent put up an impressive display in the Craven, Cracksman won his opening race showing abundant promise and Dream Castle emerged as a contender for the 2,000 Guineas. But then things went downhill for a while. Eminent and Dream Castle both ran ok-ish in the 2,000 but never looked like winning and then Queen Kindly and Fair Eva never landed a blow in the 1,000. Then Cracksman missed the Dante before only running 3rd in the Derby whilst Eminent ran 4th. Not bad to have two horses in the first four of a Derby in your first year but not quite what those of us who had such high expectations were hoping for. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that many of Frankel’s progeny do seem to progress with age which begs the question; will Frankel be able to sire many classic winners given that four of them take place so early in a season? Possibly not.
It was around this point that the “Fair Eva” thread saw several people on TRF really criticizing Frankel and effectively writing him off as a disappointing stallion. I think that some of the criticism was fair. There is no doubting that there were a few naughty boys and girls amongst that first crop. Seven Heavens, Cunco and Monarch’s Glen were just three examples of horses with plenty of talent but far too headstrong to make the most of that talent. Dream Castle didn’t do himself many favours either. But some of the criticism was way over the top and actually nasty and clearly written by people who actually wanted him to fail. I can never understand why anyone would want that, let alone racing fans, but it’s a funny old world. The argument I kept putting forward was very simple: how can you possibly evaluate the performance of a stallion in the May of his 2nd year?
To be fair June and July didn’t get much better. They all ran well at Royal Ascot but there was only one winner as Atty Persse won the King George V Stakes, Eminent bombed out in the Eclipse and, shortly before then, the most disappointing/frustrating race of the season for me, Cracksman failing to overhaul Capri in the Irish Derby. Knowing what we know now, how on earth did he not win that race?!!!
By now the criticism had spread to this thread and I honestly felt like packing it all up. It wasn’t that they were running badly, it was just that they were always finding one or two quicker than them in the really big races. For me, it has taken some of the jockeys and trainers quite a while to work out the best way to ride these Frankel’s. Not many of them quicken. They gallop and they have their father’s long stride but jockeys need to make full use of that stride. It’s no good coming from behind off a slow pace. Obviously the problem is that they don’t always settle from the front but, as we saw in France when Eminent won from pillar to post, this is the most effective way of riding them as they can keep that gallop going for longer than most other horses.
So it was starting to look grim at the end of July but mercifully (for me) that was when things started to turn around. Eminent did what he did in France and then Cracksman routed them in the Great Voltigeur. Lady Frankel, Last Kingdom and Finche were group winners in France, Queen Kindly bounced back and late developers like Weekender, UAE King and Aljazeera started to make their marks in listed/group company. Even that old vagabond Monarch’s Glen, sans tackle, started to show what he was truly capable of. As well as this Frankel’s progeny started winning nice races in Australia, USA, Argentina, South Africa, Japan and Germany. But we were still missing that elusive European Group 1.
In September, I thought Eminent was a bit unlucky in the Irish Champion as he was overhauled late on by two horses enjoying the “golden highway” that was the middle of the track at Leopardstown that day. Cracksman hacked up in the Prix Niel and there was talk of the Arc. But, once the decision was made to skip the race, it looked like the best chance of a Group 1 would come from the emerging second crop. Over in Ireland Rostropovic and Nelson were winning Group 2’s and 3’s and hugely promising horses like Elarqam, Herculean, Veracious and Wadilsifa were emerging. Goldrush finally got to the track and immediately showed what she could do, reeling off three on the bounce and Aljazeera won her listed race impressively.
Then we heard that Cracksman would definitely be lining up in the Champion. My first reaction was puzzlement. To me, he really didn’t look like a horse that was crying out to be brought back in trip, but John Gosden isn’t a great trainer for no reason and he had been seeing things on the gallops that had convinced him that this horse was speeding up as he was starting to fill his massive frame. The weather gods were kind and the race ended up being a proper test of stamina and we all know what happened next.
It was my best moment since Frankel retired. An epic performance and one that had me screaming the apartment down out in Brittany where we were holidaying (my family are used to this and steer well clear of me whenever there is a big race involving Frankel!!) Now of course YES the Champion was a test of stamina and several of his main rivals plainly didn’t run to form on that ground BUT, Cracksman was winning that race 3 furlongs out. He would have been the winner over 7f and a mile that day AND he produced the fastest final furlong of any horse on the day including in the sprint! It really was a superb performance and one that has me licking my lips at the prospect of seeing him next year. He will need to prove that he is as effective over that distance on faster ground but I honestly don’t think he NEEDS soft ground to be at his best. Certainly over 12f he is going to be difficult to beat whatever the ground and let’s all keep our fingers crossed that he and Enable stay sound so we can see what should be an incredible match-up. For what it’s worth I think if they were to meet tomorrow I would be on Enable, but I think nine or ten months down the road things might be different.
So we really finished on a high with that performance and I am convinced Nelson would have added to the tally if the potty French hadn’t shot themselves in the foot at St Cloud the other day. Still I was heartened to see a seriously nice prospect in Contingent win so well in Ireland last week.
So what about next year? Well you won’t be surprised to hear I am optimistic. We will have some very nice older horses; as well as Cracksman we will have Eminent, Mirage Dancer and Monarch’s Glen competing in Group 1’s and 2’s for the boys over 10 to 12f; we will have Lady Frankel, Goldrush and Aljazeera running in Group 1’s and 2’s from a mile up to a mile and six. We may even have Fair Eva back from injury – such a pity that we didn’t get to find out if she had trained on. Up in distance we should see the likes of UAE King, Count Octave and Weekender and over in France I hope to see Finche as a 4 year old as well as the one that could be the most exciting of all – Straight Shooter.
There will be any number of promising 3 year-olds to look forward to. As I said earlier, the Classics might come a bit soon but I hope to see Elarqam and Herculean run well in the 2,000; Vercious and Contingent in the 1,000 and then Nelson in the Derby. Of course they will have to deal with the battalions of Ballydoyle, most of whom are already race-ready and will surely hit the ground running. I think Clemmie will be extremely difficult to beat in her Guineas and I think Saxon Warrior and Amedeo Mogliani look serious Derby horses but the 2,000 looks fairly open to me and there is no doubting Mark Johnston’s admiration of Elarqam. He would be the most likely first British Classic winner for Frankel in my opinion. All in all, it should be a very exciting season.
So to conclude, I know that there will be some on here who still think that he has something to prove as a stallion. I’ve only talked about the good ones but there are clearly plenty of duds out there as well. I’m guessing we will always have some headstrong Frankel’s that don’t cut it. He did have a lovely selection of mares for his first crop and so he really SHOULD have been able to produce nice horses from them.
But for me there are many more positives than negatives. He is siring winners all over the world, over all types of distances from 6f to 2 miles (and maybe even the odd hurdler!!) and they go on all types of ground. As I had hoped when I wrote the first post five years ago, the Frankel’s really run through the line for you. They rarely run VERY badly. If you can get them to settle, they will give you their best. And the REALLY exciting thing for me is what I mentioned in 2012 – Frankel was a 145 rated horse. That means he only has to sire a horse within a stone of himself to have a proper Group 1 horse. At the moment we have just that one (and who knows what mark he may be capable of next year) but you only need one or two a year to go along with the other decent ones to keep being successful. His success has meant that his stud fee has risen and that breeders are still sending their best mares to him. This year he has covered the likes of Danedream, Izzy Top, Finsceal Beo, Attraction, Snow Fairy, Rizeena, Sky Lantern and Sariska so the future looks bright. Galileo still reigns supreme and we can’t say Frankel is ruling the world just yet, but he may well be the Prince-in-Waiting and I can’t wait to watch the rest of the story unfold.
PS special mention to my lovely friend Jac (Tripytch) who kept me going through those dark times in the Summer and also to Jess Samy who is even more of a Frankel freak than me and whose Twitter feed is the source of most of my info.And finally thanks to all who read and contribute to this thread whether they agree with me or not!!! Please keep posting!!! Jon x
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Terrific post Joni and so full of positivity and hope for the future and all our hopes and dreams becoming a reality this year with the emergence of Cracksman as Champion Stakes winner, the season couldn’t have ended better.
So much to look forward too next season most especially Elarqam and Herculean and for the fillies Aljazeera, Lady Frankel and Goldrush. With John Gosden also having Roaring Lion going forward and of course the magnificent Enable he will most certainly give the Coolmore boys something to mull over this winter.
Thank you for your kind words Joni it’s always great fun meeting up with you at Newmarket and discussing the Frankel hopefuls as they walk around the pre parade..I hope you manage a few more trips to your ‘home from home’ next season and we might even stop talking horses for five minutes to grab a quick Costa’s, to go of course
Now’s the sad part because after the Breeder’s Cup on Saturday the flat season is over and I will have just got home from the last two days racing at Newmarket until The Craven Meeting, but thoughts of all the new Frankel babies will keep my interest as they start to appear early next year and particularly looking forward to seeing Sky Lantern’s foal and hoping that Persuasive recently retired after her scintillating QE11 defeat of Ribchester and Churchill will be keeping that most important date with himself
Enjoy your break Joni there will be no justice if you don’t win Thread and Poster of the year.
Really enjoyed being part of everything Frankel and Joni. X Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Interesting graphic that compares Frankel’s record to that of Galileo, Dubawi and Sea The Stars at the same point in their careers. Shows he is way out front.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Frankel fans need to take of the rose tinted glasses as he will be found out over the next few yrs no doubt. Given the quality and number of mares he covered in his 1st season having only one group one winner is disappointing.
Like last season he has some maiden winners but like last im sure they will flatter to deceive. The best for Frankel will be the odd group 1 winner every other season and a classic winner maybe in 3 or 4 yrs that will be it
Welcome back Twice Over!!!!
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
The thoughts of James Willoughby on Frankel’s progress as a stallion:
https://www.racinguk.com/videos/watch/ondemand/3822
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
@taponwood, Frankel will prove you wrong.
All comers, all ground, all beaten
Just found this forum so thanks to Jonibake for starting this. The last part of my name is the year i was born and i have been a keen follower of flat racing since the age of 11. Since that time i have seen some greats, it would take to much time to name them all, Nijinsky-triple crown, Oh So Sharp-fillies triple crown, Brigadier Gerard for the best miler of the 20th century are just a few that pop up.
All of them though never retired unbeaten which is what sets Frankel apart, Black Caviar was a very good mare but i believe Winx is superior to her and it would be great if she made it to the Lockinge in preparation for the Queen Anne, which was Frankel’s best performance for me.
Looking forward to next season, it’s going to be a long winter
All comers, all ground, all beaten
Just found this forum so thanks to Jonibake for starting this. The last part of my name is the year i was born and i have been a keen follower of flat racing since the age of 11. Since that time i have seen some greats, it would take to much time to name them all, Nijinsky-triple crown, Oh So Sharp-fillies triple crown, Brigadier Gerard for the best miler of the 20th century are just a few that pop up.
All of them though never retired unbeaten which is what sets Frankel apart, Black Caviar was a very good mare but i believe Winx is superior to her and it would be great if she made it to the Lockinge in preparation for the Queen Anne, which was Frankel’s best performance for me.
Looking forward to next season, it’s going to be a long winter 😥
Welcome to the forum Chaos!!! You’re contributions will be most welcomed!!!
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Thanks for the welcome Jonibake and @steeplechasing, yes but only just
Devonian, Frankel has a runner called Commentariolus entered in 12.05 at Punchestown, he has been gelded and changed trainers, form on the flat was mediocre.
All comers, all ground, all beaten
Thanks.
Superb pedigree from a great Niarchos family but so far a dud. I see he fetched £30K at Ascot sales. In very good hands so I will be interested in seeing how he goes.
Senator will be the first Frankel runner in Hong Kong next Wednesday. Renamed as Simply Brilliant, he enters a 1200m (¬6F) handicap in Happy Valley. He trialled twice earlier.
Trackwork records: http://www.hkjc.com/english/racing/Track_Result.asp?txtHorse_BrandNo=B090
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